Man Shot While Confronting Auto Burglars In San Francisco SoMa
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) -- A 38-year-old man was shot and injured while confronting someone who was trying to break into his vehicle in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood on Thursday night, according to police.
There were 20,663 reported car break-ins here in San Francisco in 2021. Now for the second time this year, a break-in has resulted in gunfire.
"This was an auto burglary that was interrupted," said Fan Francisco Police Officer Grace Gatpandan. "In this case, the victim was shot by the suspect."
It happened not far from the intersection of 9th and Howard, just after 9 p.m. Thursday night. The 40-year-old victim saw his car being burglarized by two other men. He tried to intervene and was shot in the arm. Fortunately, the wound was not serious.
"I would imagine that if I saw someone doing that to my vehicle I would want to do the same thing," said Gatpandan. "However, these people are unpredictable. Suspects can be unpredictable."
Just last month, shots were fired when someone in Golden Gate Heights tried to take video of a team of car burglars.
"I've been here a long time. This is a regular occurance," said John Owen, who lives near where Thursday night's shooting happened.
Owen told KPIX given the frequency of car break-ins, the confrontation isn't all that surprising.
"It seems like, to me, it's become far too common," Owen said. "And some of these criminals seem overly relaxed to be able to pull off what they're doing."
Police say it's a reminder to take precautions to prevent car break-ins, and to not take chances if you encounter one.
"It's always best to just call the police," Gatpandan said. "Get a good suspect description, a vehicle description if possible."
The two male suspects who were involved and remain at large. San Francisco police have not released detailed descriptions of them.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Police Department's tip line at (415) 575-4444 or to send a tip by text message to TIP411 with "SFPD" at the start of the message.